Plans Moving Ahead For 'Tasting Center' In Newport

"If
you want to get the best the Kingdom has to offer you have to go someplace
faraway."

Eleanor and Albert Leger own Eden Ice Cider Co.

That's
how Eleanor Leger sizes up the difficulty of actually buying Northeast Kingdom food products in the Northeast Kingdom.

Leger
says the best selections are found somewhere else; like Hunger Mountain Co-op
in Montpelier or Healthy Living in Burlington.

There's
no question there's a lot more going on in the Kingdom in terms of culinary
tourism than there was just a few years ago. In fact, there's enough to write a
book: Kingdom's
Bounty by Bethany Dunbar is a guide to local eateries and food producers.

What
Leger has in mind, though, is something new to the Kingdom. She wants to bring many local food products
together in one place. Leger's idea took
a significant step forward recently when the limited liability corporation in
which she and her husband are investors, purchased a downtown Newport building that will become the future site of the Northeast Kingdom Tasting Center.

Leger
imagines a space that includes a local cheese monger, Kingdom-raised meat and
maple products and any other edibles grown or produced in the area.

"It's
really fun for people when they can taste the cheese with the wine with the
local meats," Leger says.

A
pub and restaurant would serve up meals and beverages from local sources. A community kitchen would provide a space for
people to process their own foods and hold classes.

Time
and money still stand between what Leger envisions and reality. She and the local economic development people
are soliciting investments from foundations, organizations and individuals in
Vermont that subscribe to the "slow money" and "patient capital" approach to
investment.

While
many of the plans for the tasting center will have to wait until that money
materializes, the newly purchased building will have one immediate
occupant.

Leger
and her husband own Eden Ice
Cider Company, which has outgrown its current location - the 800 square
foot basement of their home in West
Charleston.

The
company started producing wines from cider five years ago. The original run of 1,200 bottles sold out in
90 days. The latest batch is 33,000
bottles. Eden Ice Cider is currently sold in 20 states.

Leger
says to be sustainable in the long term, production needs to grow by two or
three times. The 8,000 square foot
cellar of the building in Newport
will give them that capacity.

"Wine
really likes to be made in basements.
That's where it's been made for thousands of years," Leger says.

The
new location will give her company a chance to sell retail in addition to
wholesale and a chance for visitors to see how the wine is made.

The company plans to move into the Newport space early next
year and Leger hopes the tasting center will take shape around it in the months
that follow.